It's been a while since I've done one of these. But finally, here's another update.

To start this update, we can now finally say that the lag has been fixed!It has taken us a long time to find the issues, but they have now been solved.We have also increased slots from 32 to 42!

Battering rams

Rams have been absent for a long time on this server. They have now finally been readded! The new rams work a little different than the old ones, in that you don't have to control them yourselves.

All you have to do is stand next to the ram, and once it has enough players, it will be lifted up and will start bashing. The ram will be dropped back onto the ground once there are no longer enough players to lift it.

Rams can be found at Minas Tirith main gate, Helm's Deep keep gate, Edoras main gate, Erebor main gate, and (soon) Minas Morgul main gate, and deal 5 bash damage per hit.

Donator changes

We have also been pushing some changes to our donation system in the shape of a couple new rewards, a new rank, and a new map pack!

- Added Sage rank for 45.00-59.99€ spent- King rank is now for 60.00€ or more spent- Added a daily reward bonus for donators- Kings now have a diamond crown (only cosmetic)- Added a Gondor pack with Citadel Guard, Vale Archer, Half-Troll, and Executioner for Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul, and Osgiliath.

The donations have been going well this past month. This is good, because it means we can keep the server up for longer, and might even be able to upgrade the system or advertise when necessary.

Class changes

There have been a lot of changes to many classes on the server. These are mainly small changes, but can have a big impact on the overall balance. Some of these changes are experimental, and may be altered in the future.

Uruk Reaver- Nerfed armour (iron boots to chain boots)

Royal Guard- Buffed armour (+1 protection on chestplate)

Horsemen- Horsemen now have a custom Rohan helmet (see picture above)- Horsemen now spawn at the nearest stable with horses- New horse stable added to Golden Hall in Edoras- Moved original horse stable in Edoras to a better location- Nerfed horseman armor (-1 armor value)

Warg Riders- Warg Riders now spawn at the nearest stable with wargs- Market stable in Edoras turns into a warg stable after flag capture

Crossbowmen- Now have a custom crossbow texture with loaded and unloaded state (made by Lord_GiacomoS)- Reload time reduced from 3.5 to 3 seconds- Now deal 50% more damage to trolls- Reloading is now abortus when changing item in hand

Resource pack

We have also updated the resource pack more, to support some new models, and readd old textures that had been removed.

We have also changed Helm's Deep a lot, because there were some issues with the map and it was usually pretty onesided.

- Rohan preparation time increased at game start- Increase wall height of fortress- Increased size of keep gate- Increased all gate health by 11%- Added a basement to the keep- Added a second level to the sidekeep to make it easier to defend- Added murder holes above the fortress gates- Added a second stable behind the wall for horsemen- Made the wall 1 block taller- Blocked off the mountain path from sidekeep to above keep- Improved keep spawn- Added a ram to the keep gate, that only appears after fortress is captured.

These changes should help improve the map. We are, however, not anywhere close to finished with the map, so you can still expect more improvements.

Bug fixes

- Fixed spawns always facing south- Fixed horseman armorstand- Fixed wargrider armorstand- Fixed broadcast bugs and old msgs- Fixed Moria Great halls repair chest- Fixed moria great halls gate- Fixed startvotes for dale not working- Fixed points going negative- Fixed warg rider/horseman not being able to bash gates- Fixed map timers breaking and counting up- Fixed constructor on Minas Morgul not being able to build fully at final gate- Increased spawn invulnerability from 1.5 to 3.5 seconds- /stats now works with /stats <player>, as well as /stats <page>, meaning you no longer have to do /stats 1 <player> to check someone's stats.

And that's it for the Holiday update. More updates may follow, so stay tuned! :)

Those of you who used the /entergiveaway command before Christmas were entered into a donor class giveaway. StealWonders' magical code picked the winner on Christmas Day, and chose two runners up as well:

1st Place (Ranger Class): the_pharaohs_cat

2nd Place (3000 points): De_Mik

3rd Place (1500 points): Sauron154

Great Empire War Survey 2018!

Those of you who have been with us a long while may remember a survey set up by the staff to get a clear picture of the state of Empire War. We are doing this once more, so that we can find out what is going well and what needs changing. It is quite a long survey, but we really do care about the intricate details of your experience on Empire War. Personally, I hope you take a short time out of your day to answer each question completely truthfully and fully.

The survey will be open until the 14th of January 2018, which gives you a good long while to find time in your schedule to do this. It also means that the maximum number of people will be able to complete the survey, so that we can make the best decisions on the future of Empire War.